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FAMILY
Director: Laura Steinel Cast: Taylor Schilling, Bryn Vale, Brian Tyree Henry, Allison Tolman, Eric Edelstein, Jessie Ennis, Blair Beeken, Matt Walsh, Fabrizio Guido, Kate McKinnon, Peter Horton, Karan Kendrick MPAA
Rating: Running Time: 1:25 Release Date: 4/19/19 (limited); 4/26/19 (wide) |
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Review by Mark Dujsik | April 25, 2019 Kate (Taylor Schilling), the harried and hostile protagonist of Family, is the sort of character who quickly could become insufferable. Through some kind of writing and acting magic, though, she never does, even when she spends the first 20 minutes or so of the film insulting, demeaning, and otherwise making life hell for those around her. She does these things for the entire film, mind you, but in the first act, that's all she does. For one thing, her jabs and constant frustration with fools and lesser people—in her mind, anyone who isn't her—are funny. For another, writer/director Laura Steinel, making her feature debut, and Schilling give us a sense that Kate doesn't want to be like this. In a cutthroat world of financial nonsense, where co-workers' personal concerns are an obstacle to getting things done and upstarts seem waiting to overtake someone's long-developed success, it has become a necessity. What's important is that the film knows Kate is a mess. It acknowledges, though the hurt looks or angry retorts from people around her, that this character crosses lines of basic decency without even considering the feelings of others. Being mean and cruel has become a defense mechanism—a way to cope with professional pressure and to ensure that no one suspects there might be a lonely, pained, or, if it can be believed, nice side to her. In other words, the character is mean, while the film never is. The nice side comes out when Kate's brother (played by Eric Edelstein) and sister-in-law (played by Allison Tolman) pressure her into watching the couple's teenage daughter Maddie (Bryn Vale) for a day—which becomes, to Kate's horror, a week. Maddie is an outsider—interested in karate and making weapons, socially awkward, regularly bullied. The aunt, suddenly juggling work and a family (an idea she openly shuns when it comes to her co-workers), and niece, who starts hanging out with some even weirder kids, bond. The film never loses its wicked edge. Kate discovers that she may have sacrificed too much of her potential self for a career, and vitally, it's her attitude, not the job itself, that's a problem. Steinel shifts the tone along with the character, from outright misanthropic to sweetly sardonic. Through all of these changes, Family remains consistently funny, because the comedy is grounded in its characters. Copyright © 2019 by Mark Dujsik. All rights reserved. |
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(for language, some sexual content and drug use)
